Aranmula Ponnamma

Aranmula Ponnamma Biography

Aranmula Ponnamma was a famous actress of Malayalam cinema known for portraying mother and grandmother roles. She started her film career in the early 1950’s and spent more than 50 years in the film industry. After year 2000, she appeared in only two movies Swapnam Kondu Thulabharam and Gourisankaram released in 2003 and retired from the industry. She passed away on 21 February 2011 (aged 95). She is one among those rare actresses of Malayalam who played mother or grandmother roles of three generations – From Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair to Prem Nazir and Sathyan and finally to latest generation of superstars.  

Ponnamma was born in Aranmula on 8 April 1915 to Malethu Kesava Pillai and Parukutty Amma as one among the 5 children. She trained Carnatic music at a younger age and started her career as a vocalist at the age of 12 for Hindu Mahamandal. At the age of 15, she became music teacher at a primary school at Pala. Later she taught higher classes. She joined Swati Tirunal Music Academy for further studies and belonged to the first batch of students. Then she joined Cotton Hill Girls' High School, Thiruvananthapuram as music teacher.

Her acting career happened by chance. She became a stage actress for the play, Bhagyalakshmi at the age of 29 and later acted in a series of plays. Sasidharan (1950) was her debut movie in which she portrayed the role of a mother at the age of 35. Afterwards she appeared in mother roles for the heroes of 1950’s-1970’s and later on moved towards grandmother roles. Thus she was one among the type casted mothers of Indian film industry. In 1995, she received Kerala state second best actress award for Kathapurushan. She was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2006, the highest honour of Malayalam cinema.  

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Updated: April 11, 2014